How many times do we listen to music and never hear the words? The rhythm, the instruments, and the energy are what most times we connect to.
It was only as I got older did I begin to pay attention to the words. Most songs tell stories that share honest feelings. Songs are not 140 characters in length but unfold over three to five minutes as they step into our lives.
Some people “feel” the music deep inside of them. It excites them. Others “pass by” music with little interest to engage with it on any deeper level.
Rock, rhythm and blues, jazz, opera, classical, hip hop, hard rock, country ……the choices are endless. We find comfort in one or more of these neighborhoods.
Piano, guitar, drums, garage band……here to the list is endless. Those that learn how to play become one step closer to being able to create their music themselves.
Computers and playlists bring a different type of creativity for those that choose to focus on the flow and experience of music that is assembled into one long session of joy.
Poets who write words from their hearts and the passion of their souls sometimes provide a door into the world of music by providing the story and the lyrics that cry out for expression for the musician to create a tapestry of notes to bring their words to life.
Dancers can’t wait to join hands with their songs to create movement and closeness with those on the dance floor. Music brings us closer to feeling the energy that we are all capable of throughout our lives when we dance.
Singers, who feel their music, let the magic of their voice bring emphasis and contrast to the words of a song while connecting them to our soul.
Engineers worry about the purity of the sounds of music to make it, play it, hear it, and capture it where we want to enjoy it.
Music can make time stop by pushing away our worries to give us the opportunity to experience joy and allow us, at times, to simply daydream. Music changes colors from making us think deeply about who we are to creating an opportunity to feel free, within ourselves, while on the dance floor.
You see the challenge of music is no different than any other that we face or in anything we find interesting enough to pursue. We can take it or leave it. Create it or enjoy it. Like it or criticize it. Where we enter is strictly our choice. How intensely we follow, work on, and improve on it depends on our stamina to continue the second day after we start on the first. Where we step in and how we engage is different for each one of us. Where we end up, we are never quite sure. As in all things in life, it is in the trying where the joy in our hearts becomes real.